ACC's Top Offense Travels to No. 16 Virginia

May 12, 2016

LEADING OFF: STORYLINES TO KNOW

1. For the fifth straight weekend, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will face a top-25 opponent. Tech travels to Charlottesville, Va., to face the 16th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers.
2. In his last three starts, junior P Brandon Gold has allowed only two earned runs in 22.0 innings, posting a 2-1 record with a 0.81 ERA. Gold has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 10 of his 12 starts this season.
3. Sophomore 3B Trevor Craport has been Georgia Tech’s hottest hitter over the last 13 games. Craport is batting a team-best .468 (22-of-47) with three home runs and 14 RBI. His .723 slugging percentage over that span is the highest by any Yellow Jacket batter.
4. Sophomore Wade Bailey is one of the toughest Yellow Jackets to strike out in 2016 (once every 10.2 at bats). In 97 career games, Bailey has struck out only 35 times in 393 at bats.
5. Georgia Tech has won 91 straight games when leading after eight innings. Tech hasn’t lost when leading after eight since April 26, 2013, at Clemson.
6. This season, Georgia Tech is 15-2 when it scores in the 1st inning, while the Yellow Jackets are 17-14 when they do not score in the 1st inning.
7. While Georgia Tech leads the nation with 65 double plays, it’s been 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus involved in most of them. Bailey and Justus have combined to turn 36 of Tech’s 65 double plays. Either Bailey or Connor has been involved in 59 of Tech’s 65 double plays.
8. Senior 3B/LF Matt Gonzalez is the NCAA Division I active leader in hits (279) and sacrifice flies (19). Gonzalez currently ranks ninth on Tech career hits list.
9. Freshman Keyton Gibson has made 15 appearances this season, five as a starter and 10 as a reliever. Gibson might be best suited as a middle reliever as the rookie has allowed only one earned run in 18.1 innings with a 2-0 record and a microscopic 0.49 ERA.

THAT’S GOLD, JERRY! GOLD!
• Junior P Brandon Gold has put together two stellar pitching performances in each of his last two starts. Gold allowed one run on six hits in 8.0 innings for a win against No. 15 Coastal Carolina (April 29). He followed by scattering six hits in 7.0 scoreless inning in a win over No. 3 Miami (May 7).
• In his last three starts, Gold has allowed only two earned runs in 22.0 innings, posting a 2-1 record with a 0.81 ERA. Gold has allowed two or fewer earned runs in 10 of his 12 starts this season.
• While Gold’s record is 6-2, the Yellow Jackets are 9-3 when Gold starts on the mound.

GOING GONZO
• Senior OF Matt Gonzalez has reemgered as one of the nation’s most dangerous hitters. In Tech’s four-game homestand against Miami and Savannah State, Gonzalez hit .647 (11-of-17) with two home runs and six RBI.
• Gonzalez posted back-to-back three-hit performances against the Hurricanes. He closed out his weekend with a career-best-tying four-hit performance against the Savannah State Tigers.
• With his fourth hit against Savannah State, Gonzalez passed current Georgia Tech assistant coach Bryan Prince for ninth on the school’s career hits list. Gonzalez enters the UVA series with 279 career hits.

TWICE AS NICE
• Inside-the-park home runs are a statistically rare occurrence in college baseball, but don’t tell senior OF Matt Gonzalez and junior OF Coleman Poje. Gonzalez and Poje accomplished the feat in back-to-back games.
• In the bottom of the 1st of Tech’s ACC series finale against Miami, Gonzalez crushed a ball to straightaway center at Russ Chandler Stadium. A mistimed jump by Carl Chester allowed Gonzalez to speed around the bases and slide head-first safely into home.
• On Tuesday afternoon, Poje drilled a ball that ricocheted off the corner of the Russ Chandler Stadium wall in right-center field. Poje scored standing up to record Tech’s second inside-the-park homer in as many days.

LEADING THE WAY
• Georgia Tech is one of the nation’s top offenses as the Yellow Jackets rank second in the ACC and ninth nationally with a .317 batting average. Tech is nine points behind ACC leader Louisville (.326).
• Tech leads the ACC in double plays (65), double plays per game (1.35), doubles (116), doubles per game (2.42), home runs (49) and home runs per game (1.02).

HOLY CRA-PORT
• Sophomore 3B Trevor Craport has been Georgia Tech’s hottest hitter over the last 13 games. Craport is batting a team-best .468 (22-of-47) with three home runs and 14 RBI. His .723 slugging percentage over that span is the highest by any Yellow Jacket batter.
• During that stretch, Craport recorded a career-best four hits – not once, but twice. Craport went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI in Tech’s 9-8 loss to Mercer on April 19. Three games later, Craport went 4-for-6 with a home run and 3 RBI in the Jackets’ 16-1 rout at Clemson on April 23.

A TOUGH ONE TO CRACK
• Sophomore Wade Bailey is one of the toughest Yellow Jackets to strike out in 2016 (once every 10.2 at bats). In 97 career games, Bailey has struck out only 35 times in 393 at bats.
• Bailey’s career at bat-to-strikeout ratio of 11.22 would rank him eighth all-time in Georgia Tech history, but he currently does not qualify (needs 400 at bats).
• Statistically, sophomore Trevor Craport is the toughest Jacket to strikeout as the utility player has struck out only 11 times this season (1 in every 13.2 at bats).

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• This season, Georgia Tech is 15-2 when it scores in the 1st inning, while the Yellow Jackets are 17-14 when they do not score in the 1st inning.
• Georgia Tech is 14-13 when opponents score first, including a 3-10 mark in ACC play.
• The Jackets have scored first in only 21 of 48 games this season, posting an 18-3 mark (8-2 in ACC).

THE VULTURE
• Junior LHP Ben Parr has earned “the vulture” nickname from his teammates after picking up his seventh win of the season April 23 at Clemson. Six of Parr’s seven wins have come in relief when the Jackets are tied or trailing in the game.
• Parr is the sixth different Yellow Jacket pitcher to start the season with a 7-0 record and the first since Mark Pope in 2011.
• Since 2002, a Yellow Jacket pitcher has started the season 7-0 on nine different occasions.

#DOUBLETROUBLE
• While Georgia Tech leads the nation with 65 double plays, it’s been 2B Wade Bailey and SS Connor Justus involved in most of them. Bailey and Justus have combined to turn 36 of Tech’s 65 double plays. Either Bailey or Connor has been involved in 59 of Tech’s 65 double plays.

ANOTHER KILLER G?
• Georgia Tech’s starter/reliever combo of Brandon Gold and Matthew Gorst have garnered most of the attention on the Yellow Jackets’ pitching staff. But, another ‘G’ has emerged as viable threat to opposing batters, freshman Keyton Gibson.
• Gibson has made 15 appearances this season, five as a starter and 10 as a reliever. Gibson might be best suited as a middle reliever as the rookie has allowed only one earned run in 18.1 innings with a 2-0 record and a microscopic 0.49 ERA. By comparison, he is 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in 16.0 innings as a starter.

SHUT THE DOOR
• Junior Matthew Gorst is a perfect 10-for-10 in save opportunities this season, recording 10 saves which rank second in the ACC and 19th nationally.
• While he does have one loss on his resume, Gorst (0-1) has struck out 34 batters and allowed only two earned runs in 26.2 innings. Gorst’s 0.63 ERA would the lowest in Division I if he qualified (must have 1 IP / team game).
• Gorst’s streak of 18.2 scoreless innings was snapped in Tech’s 8-7 10-inning loss at Clemson.

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